Unique
by Rockit073093
Summary: Summary Inside...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N-**This story is AU, and for my nefarious purposes, I've kept Yuui alive…I've also drawn some inspiration (only a tiny bit) from the Marked series (the tattoos). Constructive criticism is always welcome!

_**Summary**__: Fai is a "Unique," a special type of human with magical powers, easily identified by the thematic tattoos that adorn their bodies. The Uniques are generally shunned by regular society and live on the streets, trying to avoid trouble. Fai devises a plan to break into Tomoyo's building and steal the golden feather, thus ending a life of poverty for him and his friends. What happens when he chooses the wrong building?_

Fai leaned casually against the wall, ratty blue cap pulled low, as the guards ran past; no one paid any attention whatsoever to him, even as he slid through a discreet hole in the bottom of the otherwise flamboyant fence. The hole was quite cleverly disguised as the bottom petal of one of the many intricate flowers that composed the wrought iron fence, and was just the right size for a man of small build to squeeze through. Fai darted behind a potted palm, then through a door set in the side of the building. The inside passage was cool and dry; it was comprised of several different kinds of stone, and was rounded along g the top and sides. At rough intervals of ten feet, lanterns swung to-and-fro with the occasional passing of an earth tremor, which Fai felt throughout his whole body. He pressed on, moving quickly down the familiar route, even after he had passed the last lantern, and was forced to go on in the dark.

Despite the lack of light, Fai found the door with little difficulty. Almost without conscious thought, he picked the lock and slid through the opening, arriving in the back of an old storeroom, the door ingeniously concealed by being comprised of the same colour and material as the walls surrounding it, and being conveniently placed behind several stacks of wooden crates, which formed a niche near the door. Located within this space were an old mattress and the accompanying bedding, along with a small crate being employed as a makeshift table of sorts, and two oil lamps, one with a faint green tint to the glass, which, when lit, provided a faint, eerie quality of light. Fai carelessly tossed his cap on a crate, flopped on the mattress, and reached into one of the many pockets attached to his faded jacket. His jacket, although faded colourless by wear, was large and comfortable. It was also unusual; it was rather long, reaching roughly mid-calf, and instead of the large breast buttons that were so common, there were two small buttons sewn on to the right hip, the design enabling the wearer to pull the left side of the jacket almost fully across the body to the other side. Fai's jacket was something of an anomaly among the others, who called it a "trencher." He carefully drew out a package wrapped in grease-paper and unwrapped it. Inside was a makeshift sandwich, comprised of slightly burnt bread, leftover cuts of meat, and some cucumbers that Viiné had "harvested" from one of the public gardens the previous week. Fai stared at the sandwich for quite awhile before breaking it in half and re-wrapping the rest, stuffing it back in his jacket for the next day; food was scarce on the streets, and he needed to be sure that he had _something _to eat tomorrow.

He ate slowly, savoring each bite. Yuui and Sakura would be livid with him (not that there was much that didn't infuriate them when it came to Fai—He was too smart, too mouthy, too willing to resort to unethical solutions if his survival was threatened). He was too conspicuous. Once he'd followed through, someone would surely realize that Tomoyo's building was being infiltrated (Infiltrated! How he hated that word! It made it sound as though Fai was a criminal or a spy), and then, if the guards were not already attempting to tear him slowly apart, limb by limb, then they'd set the dogs on him, and that was, Fai thought ruefully, the absolute last thing that he needed.

His thoughts turned toward the prize. Slowly, he considered all of his options. A slow grin broke across his face; he would follow through.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- **I have no idea where this story is actually going; I feel like I'm just writing it and the characters are doing whatever they want. I hate writing fight scenes, because it means that I have to plan out the fight and half the time I'm just sitting here, staring at my screen with about a hundred different scenarios running through my head. It's enough to drive me insane… I would also like to say thank you to those people who reviewed the first chapter. And also thank you so much to wolf1380 who reminded me that I did not have a summary. Sorry about my random, slightly rambling author's note.

The building was smaller than Fai remembered. Of course, he mused, the last time that he'd been there had been several years (and several growth spurts) ago. Fai drew his massive coat carefully around himself, raked his fingers purposefully through his hair, and then strode toward the building. He need not have worried; despite his fair skin and hair, and his unusual blue eyes, he drew little more than the usual attention—a few glances here and there, some smiles (some being _very _friendly) from both man and woman, and the occasional greeting. His response toward the latter was his usual wide grin, and an enthusiastic "Hello!" He easily weaved his way through the throng, and toward the back of the room. He had little time to waste by stopping to talk to people and even less time to waste by dancing. Despite his energetic efforts, Fai did not reach the hallway in a timely, or inconspicuous manner; it had taken him a quarter of an hour to reach the back door, and if anyone were to see him like this, hunched over, hands on knees, gasping for breath and with perspiration beading off his forehead, he would definitely at least be questioned. And probably given a barf bag as well, he thought with amusement. _I hate crowds. _Carefully, he glanced around, struggling to memorize his surroundings, and then giving up completely; he could always jump out of a window or fight his way out later, although he would rather avoid the second option if he could.

Fai looked up at the roof, or rather, _through _the roof, as it was made of a thick, wavy glass that distorted whatever view there was of the night sky, but probably held up through the long winter months. He frowned. Tomoyo's roofs were most certainly not made of glass. _What the hell…_Heavy footsteps interrupted his thoughts, and Fai looked around the hallway, panic rising. He needed to hide, and hide fast, judging by the increasing volume of the footsteps. Wordlessly, he settled in ducking behind a tall potted evergreen, hoping that the man (Fai could tell that it was a man by the weight of the footsteps) wouldn't look too closely. In a state of panic, Fai tried to rearrange some of the tree's branches to better cover himself. He stopped only when he became aware of the litter of needles and dirt that he was dislodging. It covered the floor around his meager hiding place in a rough semi-circle. Fai froze in the process of scooping up a handful of pine needles as the man rounded the corner and spotted him. Fai fell to the floor, clutching his throat and making a gurgled choking sound. The dark haired man rushed to where the blond lay gasping and knelt by him. "Are you all right?"

As fast as lightning, Fai rolled over and swung at the side of the man's face; unfortunately, the man rocked back at the last second, and only received half the force of the blow. Quickly rolling to a standing position, Fai stared in surprise. Nobody (with the exception of Yuui) had ever been able to dodge him before. The dark haired man staggered to his feet and stared back, obviously analyzing his opponent. Fai took in the man's broad shoulders and red eyes, along with his disheveled black jeans and leather jacket. Whomever he was, he was clearly a force to be reckoned with. It was clear that he didn't think much of the blond—he had most likely taken in Fai's sticklike physique and hadn't given him much a chance. Fai suppressed a smile. It was a common mistake, and one that most people often ended up regretting. The man dived forward and Fai dodged, spinning out of the way. The man lunged again. Missed. And again. Dodged. Fai took a swing. Almost connected. The stranger swung again; missed.

_We're getting nowhere, _Fai thought, dodging another blow. Thinking quickly, Fai muttered the words of a spell, and slid down a nearby wall, exhausted. The man landed in a heap on the floor, unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

** A/N-Sorry about the delay, I've been studying for my English final, which amounts to me writing tons of essays lately. Did I mention that I hate essays? They're just so….boring. I've also had to work on multiple choice and comprehension…luckily that's the part of the exam that I usually do best at, so not as much studying for that part, thankfully. I'm also attempting to draw the world's best (or only) stick chicken. If you want to see it then check my deviant art (same name)…I'll post it there when it's drawn. Anyway, here's chapter three. **

_…the pain was excruciating and…there was blood, too much blood…drained, empty…there was too much blood, he was going to…running down his face, his chin…shaking, leaf, fall…he fell, not sure…blood…arms, blood , strong…shaking, yelling…panic, screams.._

"Fai! Wake up damn it!"

Fai opened his eyes and met a panicked blue stare from his twin. Instinctively knowing that something was amiss, Fai leaped off the mattress and peeked around the boxes, making sure that they were alone, then finally turned to face his brother in last night's breeches and nothing else. Yuui rocked nervously back and forth on his heels, peeking anxiously around boxes and crates, clearly worried about potential eavesdroppers. Fai grabbed his twin by the shoulders and shook him gently. "Yuui, what's going on?" Yuui's eyes were enormous, pale blue orbs as he answered.

"You know Tomoyo's house, the one she just built? With the blue fence and all those skylights?"

Fai nodded, his gut twisting and untwisting like the knots on the rigging of sea-ships.

"There was a raid last night. Two actually…Tomoyo was throwin' a welcome party for her cousin, 'parently he's this handsome ninja warrior or somethin', 'cording to my sources." Yuui's nervous grin was lost on Fai, who had frozen. "Anyway, 'parently he got tired of the party an' wandered off and he met a mage in his hallway! A MAGE, Fai! And not just any mage, 'cause this guy is fast right? Bein' a ninja and all that. Anyways, this mage knocked 'im out and took off somewhere, which Tomoyo took as a personal insult to her family, never mind that this guy has more than enough enemies who could a done it…and he woke up as some thieves broke in through the skylights a couple of rooms over and being mad about losin' to t the mage, he took it out on the robbers." Fai listened in surprise (and amusement. Yuui had taken to the streets like a dung beetle to shit, and even talked in the same rough dialect that was favoured by the homeless. Fai, on the other hand, was tough and ruthless enough to survive, but still too civilized to be clumped in with the hermits on the block. If Fai hadn't been related to Yuui and hadn't immediately taken a liking to Syoaran and Sakura, the young couple that Yuui was bunking with, he would've left town altogether and never looked back.), and nodded for his brother to continue. "Seems like Kurogane (That's his name, by the way) either couldn' remember or wouldn' tell the guards what the mage looked like. There are rumours going around that he wants to off the guy himself. Fai, ya need to be careful."

"What? Why?"

Yuui stared sadly at his twin. "'cause you were gone last night when I came in and this morning this guy came and talked to me when I was diving *…said I looked an awful lot like the mage who jumped 'im. And he told me to be lookin' for someone with feathery tatts**. The only person I know with tats like that is you."

Fai stared wide-eyed at his twin, running a hand absently through his blond locks and rubbing his neck where the tattoo started and spread down his left shoulder and down his back to his tailbone, resembling large, white feathers with a tribal motif on each one. "Look," Yuui started awkwardly, "I know you're usually fine on your own, but I thought I'd warn you 'bout this. No tellin' what a guy like that might do to a feller if he had a mind to. An' I know you're proud of your tatts," Yuui waved off Fai's vehement protests with ease. "But maybe you should cover em up for awhile, just in case this guy comes knocking, right?" Fai looked down uncomfortably. After a long, pregnant pause, he reluctantly agreed.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,…..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,…..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,…,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,…..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The streets were packed with the usual rush; Fai, being used to the crowd, pulled his hat down low and ducked into a back alley; he quickly scaled the wall of one of the houses that made up the alley (this was easy for him to do, as the wall consisted almost entirely of rough, uneven bricks) and continued on his way via rooftop. Nobody paid much attention to the blond on the roofs, which suited Fai just fine. He wasn't really in the mood to do any explaining, and there were always several others who were smart enough to use the rooftops as a mode of transportation.

One advantage to using this system was that Fai arrived at his destination fairly quickly. With a small grunt he carefully lowered himself onto a ledge a couple of feet down; the constant breeze ruffled his hair and lifted his tee-shirt, exposing his navel for a moment, until he was safely situated on the two-foot wide stretch of concrete that had served as a window ledge at some point before the buildings imminent abandonment. From here, Fai could easily make out the glass roof of the building he had broken into. He remained seated in the most comfortable cross-legged seat that he knew, shifting only on occasion or running his fingers absently through his hair. So absorbed was he in his vigil that nothing registered in his senses until a large, rough hand clamped down on his shoulder.

**A/N~I have a drawing that corresponds with Fai's dream on Deviant Art….here's the link: .com/gallery/#/d4o0zcf**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N~ Sorry I haven't been on for a while. The school year's almost over (today's my last day) and I've been ridicolously busy with Grad, finals and so on. Anyway, here's a chapter to hold you over until the next one, which will be (hopefully) soon. **

**I couldn't resist the Hulk reference, especially since Kurogane doesn't seem to be a very good interrogater (at least not where Fai's concerned)**

Fai turned his head in amusement, refusing to meet the ninja's annoyed gaze. For the past few days, despite thoroughly valiant efforts on Kurogane's part (Fai had found out that this was the name of the man he had attacked and who now had him in his custody), which mostly included failed attempts at intimidation, Fai had blatantly refused to cooperate and answer questions with anything even remotely close to a straightforward answer. Despite the fact the Yuui, Syoaran, and Sakura were probably worried as hell right now, Fai was enjoying himself. "What's your name?" Kuogane barked, inches from the mages ear. "Tell me!" Fai appeared to deliberate for a moment, thoughtfully chewing on his bottom lip and shifting slightly in the duct tape that held him in his chair. "Renaldo Bacino" He stated calmly, raising blue eyes wide in (attempted) innocence. "My name is Renaldo Bacino. Why ever do you ask?"

The ninja narrowed wine coloured eyes in annoyance, and leaned in toward Fai until their faces were inches apart. "I am running out of patience," he ground out. "Are you going to give me some serious answers or not? Because if you don't…" Kurogane held himself back from slapping the mage across the face with remarkable restraint as Fai continued to smile his ludicrous smile. "If you don't, I'm going to get angry. And you won't like me when I'm angry." At this point, Fai met Kurogane's eyes, smiled sweetly, and told him that he would take his chances, as the ninja didn't seem to be turning any particular shade of green anytime soon. As the dark haired man spluttered in incomprehensible anger, the blond looked at him, smirked, and replied to his spluttering with: "You smell like ginseng. Did you have ginseng tea? I've never had ginseng tea, do you mind if I try some?" As Kurogane looked at the blond in bewilderment, Fai grinned wickedly, leaned forward and licked the man's face. With a look that could have leveled an entire city block, Kurogane stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him, as Fai called after him, "I think I like ginseng after all!" He then burst out into hysterical laughter and despite his best efforts to stop laughing (which were in fact, none), each time he remembered the look on his captor's face a new wave of laughter washed over him. The man had been blushing.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N~I can't believe I **_**Finally **_**finished this chapter...I literally had to rewrite this twice; once, because my computer died and it didn't save (NOOO!) and once because, as I was typing, I somehow managed to erase everything except for the first three paragraphs (Ugh). But it's finished now so it's all good, I guess. **

**Also, I'm going to say that the rating on this is now around a **_**high**_** T or a **_**low**_** M, just to be safe. **

Kurogane leaned casually against the wall, a look of polite disinterest across his face, broken occasionally by a slight change in the curvature of his mouth, and the movement of his eyes, as he silently followed the c onversation between his cousin Tomoyo and the blond man leaning against the desk across from her. Irritatingly enough, the mage was as cheerful as ever; Kurogane noticed with increasing agitation that all of the questions that he had previously asked (well, demanded) and had been ignored, or given a ridiculous answer ("What's your business in this building!?" "This is a building!? Really!?") , were being answered simply and with respect (although Kuroganecould tell that the mage was still being entirely untruthful) when Tomoyo was the one doing the asking. Irritated, he turned his head and made a tsking sound. Tomoyo laughed, "Well Fai, I think that Kurogane wants to interrigate you himself again."

Fai laughed, turning toward the dark haired man and winking. "or, maybe I could interrigate _him_ this time?" Both Fai and Tomoyo hooted with laughter at the look on Kurogane's face. "No?"

Fai wandered aimlessly through the building, stopping occasionally to peek into a room, or to look out the window. He'd instantly taken a liking to Tomoyo, and the other guards, especially Kurogane; the dark haired man was fun to tease, and, despite his rough exterior, the blond was positive that the ninja (all of Tomoyo's guards were ninjas, for some strange reason) was actually a very kind person. Fai leaned against a long window, glancing down at the band around his right ankle and frowning slightly. Although technically still a prisoner, he was allowed to walk around and live in the building, as long as the band was on his ankle (Tomoyo and Kurogane wouldn't let him leave until he decided to tell the truth). One of Tomoyo's mage's had spelled it to allow the blond to move about freely, as long as he didn't leave the property. If he attempted to escape, the cuff would automatically expand and wrap around his body, effectively rendering him helpless. To Tomoyo's and Kurogane's amusement, Fai had tested the blue band's abilities earlier; he'd ended up on the lawn, wrapped so tight that he still had marks from where the band had dug into his flesh, swearing profusely. He chuckled at the realization that many of the guards were in awe of his extensive "vocabulary."

"What the hell are you giggling about?"

"Hi Kuro-pyon! What-"

"Don't friggin' call me that!" The dark haired man glared at Fai, who smiled cheerfully. He blinked in surprise when kurogane placed a hand on his shoulder. "What does Kuro-tan want?" kurogane tightened his grip. "You _know_ what!." Fai smiled. "Do I? Do I really, Kuro-Sama?"

"I want to know exactly _how_ and _why_ you and your brother are involved in this shit." Fai's eyes widened, and then narrowed. He grabbed Kurogane's arms and shoved him into the wall across from him. "You leave Yuui out of this, you fucking bastard."

" I'm not after your brother, I'm after a man called Ashura. I heard rumour that you used to work for him." Fai rocked back on his heels and stared in disbelief. _How the hell..._"or maybe you still do," Fai furiously opened his mouth, but the ninja cut him off. "I don't care either way; I just want to get that bastard." Fai met the other man's determined gaze, chewing thoughtfully on his lower lip. Ashura, as Fai knew , was an extremely corrupted businessman who had his hand in every major decision regarding the economy, and was notorious for double-dealing and screwing over his employees. He was an egotistical, greedy, ruthless bastard and he knew exactly how to play people. Fai could feel his stomach start to churn just from thinking about the man. Frowning, he weighed his choices carefully, and, coming to a decision, he looked at Kurogane and said, "I..I-I need some time to think about it..." Kurogane stared at his suspiciously for a moment, eyes narrowed, then nodded abruptly and turned on his heel.

Fai leaned back against the window, waving absentmindedly as Kurogane continued down the corridor and out of sight. He closed his eyes and titlted his head back against the glass, trying to sort through his feelings. It wasn't something he did often, as Fai generally tried to avoid feeling guilty and many of his actions had resulted in exactly that. He thought abot his twin, Yuui, and how worried he must be; he thought about Tomoyo and her views on him. He thought about Kurogane and a lump came into his throat. The blond was very fond of the ninja and would have prefered not to involve him with Ashura : Fai dreaded what was going to happen to the dark haired man.

Fai turned away from the window and slowly started toward the room that Tomoyo had set aside for him, letting his hand trail along the wall, and stopping at the room beside his. He raised his hand to knock, then lowered it. He was reluctant to bother the blond nervously gripped the object hidden in his coat, trying to work up his nerve; It failed, and Fai turned to go. The door opened, and Fai turned around, coming face to face with a half dressed Kurogane. Fai stared in surprise, his gaze traveling down the other man's muscular torso and to his waist, where, to his relief, he saw that Kurogane was wearing an old pair of black jeans. "what?" Embarassed (partly because he had been caught outside the door and partly because of the ninja's state of undress), Fai stubled over his words. "err...I was just...um" Realizing that the dark haired man was getting impatient, Fai took a small step forward. . "I wanted to talk to you. Can I come in?" The mage swept into the room before Kurogane could answer, and upon seeing the katana hanging above the bed, and various other weapons on the walls, let out a decidedly girlish squeal. "Ky-aah! Kuro-cha-an! isn't that dangerous?" Kurogane scowled, grabbed the smaller the blond man by the collar and lifted him up, sitting him on the end of the bed, then sat in the chair beside the bed. Fai grinned and winked at him flirtaciously. "Kuro-tan, you're really strong!"

The ninja ignored this, shifting in the chair so that he was comfortable.

"What the hell do you want?" Fai blinked and turned toward the ninja; dropping his voice to a whisper, he leaned toward him as Kurogane did the same. "You'll see, " Fai murmured, knocking his head against Kurogane's, and running his nose along the other man's as he moved his head back and met a hooded crimson gaze. The blond leaned forward and found himself in a ferocious lip-lock; he kissed kurogane fiercly, wrapping his arms around the larger man and moving forward off the bed to straddle him on the chair. Fai kissed roughly down Kurogane's neck, withdrawing his hands, then leaning back. The ninja leaned forward and the mage pushed him back down, running his thumb along the others mouth. Kurogane's lips parted slightly and he drew the blond thumb into his mouth and sucked gently, causing Fai to groan softly. Fai fumbled with his coat as the ninja pushed him on the bed and moved over him, then froze. Fai pressed the barrel of the gun further into the other man's chest. Hands shaking, vision blurry from the unshed tears that always came during an assassination, Fai clicked the safety off.

..._Outside the enclosed brick walls of the city, it was frozen wasteland; a true personal hell for the woman and two boys, albiet one that she refused to turn away from, because it was considerably better than the alternative that awaited her and her boys back within the city. Determination found its way across her features, giving the otherwise pretty blonde woman a look of fiierce resolution. Blue eyes narrowed partially in determination and partially against the wind, she pulled her boys close, one on each side, and began to walk forward into the wasteland, keeping a steady pace, her grip on her boy's arms tightening briefly whenever one of them stumbled. Despite being only four, and absolutely terrified, the boys knew better than to ask their mother what was going on; they remained mostly silent, the only sound being an occasional whimper, and the icy wind that grabbed at blond hair and stung tears into crystalline eyes.._

Kurogane (who had been reaching for his katana)stared in surprise at the man who had been planning on killing him. Although still holding his pistol, Fai had gone completely rigid, staring unseeingly at the ninja, tears flowing freely down his face.

_...the woman pulled her boys close and covered them with her cloak as she lay on the frozen ground, giving her sons the gift of her body heat as she took her last breath.._

Kurogane rolled away from the mage, knocking the pistol from the blond's grip. To his great surprise, Fai stayed in pretty much the same position, shifting only slightly from the beds movement; as far as the ninja could tell, it looked as though every muscle in the blond's body was siezed. On his guard, Kurogane moved his hand slowly in front of Fai's face. He didn't move; he didn't even blink. The dark haired man stared thoughtfully at the mage for a moment, unsure. There was something about the entire situation that wasn't quite right...And despite the fact that Fai had made an attempt on his life, Kurogane's intuition was telling him that he should at least find out the truth about the entire situation before he decided on a course of action.

Fai aprutptly closed his eyes and sighed, the tears having finally stopped. Kurogane breathed a sigh of relief, then fought back the nervous bile that rose in his throat when the blond's eyes rolled back and he began to convulse. He crossed the room in two strides, grabbed the phone, and called Tomoyo in her office.

**A/N~ just in case this wasn't very clear (I do my own proof reading, so I can't be sure) the italic chunks are memories. **

**Also, Fai's siezure is fairly close to a real one; I used to have a friend with epilepsy and she'd get those siezures where it'd look like she was just zoned out, and the ones with convulsions. Personally, I find the ones where the person's just staring into space incredibly scary, because you never know if they're actually having one or not. **


End file.
